Florida Pitcher Earns Freshman All-American Honors

Gainesville, FL -- Gator right-hander Karsten Whitson (Chipley, Fla.) capped off an impressive rookie campaign by being named a first-team Freshman All-American by Baseball America. He had previously earned Freshman All-American recognition from Louisville Slugger and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).

Chosen to the SEC’s All-Freshman Team, Whitson was a fixture in the Gators’ weekend rotation and finished 8-1 with a 2.40 earned run average. He tied sophomore Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) for the top spot with 19 starts, led the club with 92 strikeouts in 97.1 innings and limited opponents to a .235 batting average.

In his NCAA Tourney debut on June 3, Whitson did not permit any runs or walks as Florida overpowered Manhattan, 17-3. He also made a pair of starts during the Orange and Blue’s runner-up performance at the 2011 NCAA College World Series. The righty earned a no-decision in Florida’s 3-1 victory over Vanderbilt in which he yielded four hits and one run over 4.2 innings, with five strikeouts and a walk. Whitson drew the starting assignment in game two of the CWS Championship Finals and was on the short end to South Carolina despite allowing one earned run on four hits over 4.2 innings.

Whitson collected SEC Freshman of the Week honors on April 25 after a seven-strikeout performance in a career-high 6.2 innings versus Alabama and was 4-0 with a 2.56 ERA in conference games. In 10 SEC starts, the righty posted victories over Tennessee, Alabama, Ole Miss and Kentucky.

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